Posted on November 12, 2025

Had to have some emergency tree surgery this week!

There was an tall conifer growing on our property boundary, about 20 feet from our house.

This tree had always grown leaning towards the house, but over the past few weeks there was evidence of the roots starting to move in the soil. It had to go before any windy winter storms!

It took four men a day and a half to deal with it – nearly 3 hours anchoring it, then stripping off all the branches and next cutting it in guided falls from the top downwards in roughly 8 foot trunk sections. These came down with a crash, shaking crockery and glasses in our kitchen (the nearest room to the base of the tree). I couldn’t guess what each section weighed.

Plus all the clear-up work, chipping the smaller branches and loading the logs in batches onto a trailer.

{{< collection "Tree cutting" >}}

Posted on July 6, 2023

This is the toad who lives in my greenhouse 🐸

Toad on soil under the leaves of a tomato plant

Seems like a very strange (sometimes very hot) place for a toad to want to live in but it’s been there for well over three months now. I have to be very careful when hoeing between the plants because it’s often completely buried in a well-camouflaged burrow which occasionally moves location.

I’ve been trying to get a better photograph but it’s fairly timid and makes a dash for cover whenever it notices me 😄